Letter of Apology: Final Fantasy VI

It may or may not be obvious online, but to those around me it's clear that I love RPGs. Suikoden, Legend of Dragoon, Legend of Legaia, Shin Megami Tensei, Fire Emblem, Secret of Mana, Dragon Quest, you name it. I am also a big fan of the early to mid Final Fantasy games. It was always odd to me however, that is could never really get to liking Final Fantasy VI.

Generally speaking, there has always been two major camps when it comes to Final Fantasy. Those who love VI and those who love VII. I was always under the understanding that you did not need to dislike one to love the other but this was most definitely the case for me. I loved Final Fantasy VII, it was a game with no flaws at the time. Now I still do love Final Fantasy VII but it has a couple more problems than I remember. Some of the pacing is a little off during Midgar and the middle segments of the game but I still maintain that it's a fantastic game.

When I first played Final Fantasy VI, I felt it had a terrible mechanic for Magic and Stats and that the early stages of the game were very tiring. As a rule I don't like RPGs where the characters effectively become clones of one another inside battle. If every character can learn every spell in the game then there is little thought needed when building a party. Sure, each character has a unique skill but magic tends to overrule them for the most part. Those few with really great skills tend to dominate party set-ups and that's not a very good mechanically either.

Those were my first experiences with the game. I did not want to “ruin” my characters by building them with the wrong stats. This effectively pulled my game to a crawl as I tried to micromanage learning magic vs building the best characters. I recently got the GBA version of the game and decided to give it another try. The sound was awful but we had a run feature without the need of a relic. This time I was determined to play the game without worrying too much about what stats to build with each character or that they would eventually all have the same spells.

This time I was really having fun. The “slow start” of the game flew past as threw caution to the wind and proceeded to forget about those “wasted levels”. I did not struggle. In fact the game was just the right level of challenge. Once I reached the endgame it did start to become a little bit easy with the overpowered magic spells but there were still a few monsters with dirty little tricks to keep my entertained. 

What I mean to say by this long winded and frankly pointless post is that sometimes there are games I misjudge. Maybe a lot of us do but I am glad that I went back to Final Fantasy VI and proved myself wrong. Granted, I still find the mechanics a little bit flawed. I find that learning every magic spell or having stats awarded by needlessly shuffling through menus is a terrible idea. A testament to just how good Final Fantasy VI is can be shown in how little these affect the overall game.

If you have any similar experiences, where you went back on a game that you thought you hated but managed to find something you loved about it or maybe it's just a game you never really could like that everybody else seemed to go crazy over, drop a message below, I'd love to hear it.

My Top Five Games That Need To Be Remade

Panzer Dragoon Saga.

I never usually do lists but I was thinking about games that I really would love to play again but the means or availability of the game do not permit me to experience them. I should explain that I don't think any of the games on this list are flawed and require a remake to justify their existence but I think that while thinking about the possibility of them being ported, might as well talk about the possibility of remakes.

I should also note that these are not an order of my favorite games but in terms of availability against the need for a remake of sorts. There are far more I wanted to add to this list than I could fit in any reasonable way. Games like Panzer Dragoon Saga I would have added but if I start on the Saturn, the list would be more or less a complete list of Sega Saturn games...Sorry.

5.Parasite Eve HD Remake

Easily one of the most exciting action RPGs on the Playstation

Parasite Eve was originally a game not too dissimilar to Vagrant Story, but with a modern setting and more action based gameplay. I feel Parasite Eve was ultimately the superior game. The game is actually a sequel to the Japanese novel by the same name. Aya Brea is a cop for the NYPD and soon finds herself surrounded by people bursting into flames while other creatures into monsters. The mitochondria inside their bodies are evolving and this also gives Aya powers.

Parasite Eve is such an interesting idea with a captivating story that I'm surprised they failed so much with the two sequels that were released.

4.Super Metroid HD Remake

We tried having Samus talk...Can we please go back to 2D now?

The problem with a Super Metroid remake is that there is basically nothing that needs to be changed. I mainly put this on the list so new fans can appreciate what I feel is the peak of the series and hopefully drag Nintendo back into making 2D Metroid games once again.

3.Rival Schools 1 & 2 HD Collection

If you had a Dreamcast you were spoilt for fighting games.

I would love to see a revival of the Rival Schools series. Fast paced, tag team gameplay with colourful and imaginative characters. This is something I can actually see Capcom doing some day. HD lick of paint, with netplay and some balancing and you can pretty much release the games just like that.

2.Shin Megami Tensei 1 & 2 Collection

Religious symbolism makes Shin Megami Tensei a task to localize.

I am a huge fan of the Shin Megami Tensei series but as of yet, the two major games in the series have not reached outside Japan. This upsets me as the dark story of the first two games were something rare to see on the Super Nintendo. Just Balance the difficulty a little bit and add an auto mapping feature and you'd be good to go.

1.Mother Complete Collection

Colourful games...I remember those.

My top spot is something that could never possibly happen but it's something I would very much like to see. Mother on the NES never saw the light of day outside Japan but those in America got to play Mother 2 on the Super Nintendo. Localized as Earthbound, it was a wacky game that broke many RPG conventions. It was set in a reasonably modern time and instead of fighting dragons and slimes you would fight bees and dogs. In place of a sword and shield, you would have a baseball bat and yo-yo. Against your foes you would not throw a magical fireball at your enemy but use your psychic powers against them.

Add Mother 3 to the mix and you'd have the ultimate collection if you're looking for a non conventional RPG. Nintendo could never release these games without some heavy editing as it plays music similar to licensed songs and various other copyright issues. So far there are not even any plans to release Earthbound on the Nintendo Virtual Console, So the likelihood of playing these games by normal means is next to impossible I am afraid to say.